Leading global coffee company Starbucks announced Monday that it had signed a partnership with the Ethereum-based layer 2 scaling solution Polygon to offer its customers a new Starbucks Odyssey experience powered by the Web 3 technology.
Starbucks Picks Polygon for NFTs
The Starbucks Odyssey is an extension of the Starbucks Rewards loyalty program, offering its members and partners based in the United States the opportunity to buy, sell and earn non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and other digital collectibles. The NFTs are designed to unlock access to new benefits with immersive coffee experiences.
“Starbucks has always served as the Third Place, a place between home and work where you feel the warmth of connection over coffee, community, and belonging. The Starbucks Odyssey experience will extend the Third Place connection to the digital world. For the first time, we are connecting our Starbucks Rewards loyalty program members not just to Starbucks but to each other,” said Brady Brewer, chief marketing officer at Starbucks.
As a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) protocol, the partnership aims to utilize Polygon’s innovative technology to provide the needed experience for the Starbucks audience to interact and engage with the Starbucks Odyssey NFTs at a relatively cheap fee and high speed while navigating the network congestion of the Ethereum blockchain.
The First
According to the announcement, Starbucks is one of the first enterprises to integrate digital artworks, collectibles, and other tokenized assets with an industry-leading loyalty program, allowing users to interact with each other.
Users can access the “limited-edition stamp NFTs” through a marketplace built within the Starbucks Odyssey web experience, with each of the Stamps featuring an iconic Starbucks NFT co-created with its partners and external artists.
The American-based coffee company also noted that a portion of the funds generated from selling the limited edition NFTs would be used to sponsor causes that matter to the community.
No Crypto Wallet Required
The loyalty members and partners can access the digital artwork using their Starbucks Rewards login details to participate in the games and other challenges designed within the Odyssey ecosystem.
Per the announcement, participating in the soon-to-be-launched Odyssey program does not require users to use any crypto wallet.
The company also noted that starting September 12, customers and partners can join the waitlist for an opportunity to be among the first members to gain access to the Odyssey experience that will be launched later this year.
